JD Sports delivers ‘resilient’ performance as profits slide

Sales at the athleisure retailer increased 10.5% to £12.7bn for the year to Jan 31 2026, largely driven by the acquisition of French retailer Hibbett and Courir. Organic sales excluding acquisitions increased 2.1%, while like-for-like sales were down 2.1%.

Profit before tax fell 12% to £629m and dropped 7.7% to £852m on an adjusted basis. 

Despite modest sales growth, the retailer reported a surge in free cash flow, up 36% to £462m, which it credited to disciplined cost management. The performance lifts its net cash position from £52m a year ago to £311m.

In the US, which is now the retailer’s largest region accounting for almost 40% of sales, trading ”sequentially improved through the year”, with a return to like-for-like growth in the final quarter. JD Sports chief executive Régis Schultz said the US sales performance was driven by optimised ranging, supply chain and its omnichannel proposition, and it would be increasing “targeted marketing investment to support the JD brand’s expansion and build on our momentum in this key region.”

The UK market was JD’s worst-performing region, with sales falling 3% to £3.1bn, and like-for-like revenue down 3.9% owing to weakened consumer sentiment, a soft footwear product cycle and tough comparatives from last year’s Euro 2024 football tournament, which had boosted replica shirt sales, it said. 

JD closed a net 24 UK stores during the year as part of its “fewer, bigger, better” estate strategy, though it increased net selling space by around 4% by investing in larger, higher-productivity stores.

“Muted market growth”

The retailer widened its outlook, forecasting profits to be between £750m and £850m for FY27, and warned of “muted market growth” in the near term. 

“We delivered a resilient performance, achieving organic sales growth of 2.1% despite tough market conditions,” said Schultz. 

“Our deep understanding of our customers and lifestyle trends gives us a clear view of how they want to shop and spend, allowing us to consistently deliver the right products, in the right places and at the right prices. This customer‑led focus, alongside disciplined cost and capital management, supported a 36% increase in free cash flow.”

“We also made good progress against our strategic priorities, launching automation at our Heerlen distribution centre to support JD Europe store replenishment, and advancing our global e‑commerce re‑platforming programme, with full roll‑out to Europe and the UK planned for later in 2026. These programmes are critical stepping stones in future-proofing the infrastructure for a Group of our scale, creating a robust platform that enables us to operate more efficiently and drive future growth.” 

Agentic ai

Looking ahead, JD said accelerating AI adoption would be a strategic priority for the next financial year, and it was already piloting technology to allow customers in the United States to discover and purchase products directly through AI platforms including ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot agentically. 

It’s also investing in a global ecommerce re-platforming programme, having already upgraded systems in North America, South-East Asia and Italy. The UK and wider European rollout is expected to complete later in 2026.

It also announced plans to diversify its product range, optimise its store estate and use customer data to drive more targeted personalisation through its loyalty programme JD Status, which now has 9.4 million active members globally.

Schultz said: “While we continue to expect muted market growth in FY27, we remain confident in JD Group’s medium‑term trajectory, underpinned by our strong brand partnerships and agile, multi‑brand model. For the year ahead, we are focused on further enhancing and optimising our product offer, customer experience and store footprint, and delivering strong cost and cash discipline – in essence, ‘controlling the controllables’. These actions position us well to deliver on our new commitments on free cash flow and cash returns to shareholders announced today.”